New uni plans to target primary school children

It's part of a plan by University of Ballarat (UB) vice-chancellor David Battersby to lift tertiary education rates in the region.

Professor Battersby spoke with ABC Gippsland's Celine Foenander about UB's relationship with Monash University and the proposal to start a new university at the existing Monash campus in Churchill from January next year.

The proposal was announced last week and has prompted a mixed response from academics, students and the wider Gippsland community who are concerned about the loss of the Monash 'brand' and doubt over UB's ability to deliver quality education.

Professor Battersby defended his university's credentials.

"On the issue of quality, it depends what people mean by quality," he says.

"All the data suggests and I refer to the Good Universities Guide, for the last four years in a row we have been the only university in Victoria that's achieved a five-star rating."

Professor Battersby says UB is well versed in tackling the challenge of improving tertiary education participation rates in regional areas.

He says the method of encouraging children as young as primary school age to aspire to attend university is starting to pay off in Ballarat.

"We have very good teams at the University of Ballarat who go out and work in schools but increasingly in the upper primary and lower secondary schools, for students in year six and the lower end of secondary school," he says.

"It's about impressing on them what university is about, the opportunities that are there and working with their teachers.

It's a long term investment you make in communities... there"s a national interest in building aspiration."